Remixing Books

Occasionally when my mom sings to herself she often forgets the song lyrics and adds her own lines. She calls it a remix. When I’m telling a story to someone I often forget the details and may add my own details. Another kind of remix. Today I bring you book-remixes, where I combine the plots of two different books to make a new story.

1. Murderbot at The Edge of Worlds

In which the introverted A.I. Murderbot comes across a planet inhabited by the shape-shifting Raskura in its space travels. Two of my favourite series ever combined The Murderbot Diaries and The Books of the Raksura. I would love it if Martha Wells did something like this. I already saw a sly nudge towards her Digger comics in the latest Murderbot book Rogue Protocol ❤

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2. Harry Potter and the Labyrinths of Echo

Was anybody else also annoyed by the Deathly Hallows epilogue? Instead of seeing Harry live happily ever after with a wife and kids I would have loved to read a whole series about the adult Harry and gang working as Aurors and catching magical criminals with a team of eccentric wizards and helpful owls. I felt this intensely after seeing all this in Max Frei’s funny Russian series starting with The Stranger (cover above). I love the books even though the English translation was not the best possible. There is also the Dresden files series some people like to recommend for HP fans but I just couldn’t get into those books.

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3. Sherlock Holmes vs Hercule Poirot

Two of my favourite literary detectives! It would be interesting to see them solve a case together while disagreeing with their methodologies: in what ways would they clash? In what ways would they act the same? Here we have logic based scientific analysis vs psychological profiling. Also Dr Watson vs Capt Hastings, who makes the better sidekick?

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4. Emma in Jurassic Park

Jane Austen, or Brontes, or Gaskell, or any classic book remixed with dinosaurs! (Or dragons). There is Jo Walton’s Tooth And Claw which is dubbed a Pride and Prejudice with dragons but all the characters are dragons – no annoying puny humans to eat.

Writers are quick to imagine worlds with strange mythical creatures, ghosts or aliens but they rarely chose to inhabit a human world with dinosaurs, the real monsters and dragons of our world. If scientists say there were no humans living at the time of dinos, so what? Firstly, it merely means that it couldn’t be proven by science, secondly, that’s what fantasy books are for (including science fantasy). It is fantasy writers that can imagine such a world into being.

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5. Macbeth in King Hamlet’s Court

Hamlet with Macbeth: while prince Hamlet dithers about doing something about his uncle, Macbeth would seize the opportunity and kill the king, Macbeth then takes the fall and hamlet lives happily ever after. Ophelia and Lady Macbeth get to talk and help each other with their mental problems.

It could turn into a good comedy play 😀

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6. Twilight Eyes, Whybourne and Griffin Series

Twilight Eyes is the only book I’ve read by Dean Koontz. At the time it made quite an impression on my teenage mind with the carnival setting and gothic/supernatural atmosphere and hidden monsters. I was reminded of that book recently while reading the second book Threshold in the historical paranormal mystery series Whybourne and Griffin by Jordan K. Hawk. I distinctly remember those caves with the… hmm spoiler territory here but there was something unnatural living in the caves where the protagonist pairings end up in their investigations, especially more-so towards the end of the books. Also contrasting the dynamics between an m/f pairing with an m/m pairing would be interesting.

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7. Alice Lost in Space

This brings back childhood memories, and on the subject of remixes, I feel no book has ever been remixed so much as Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. And though Lost in Space is not a book it is a space opera retelling of The Swiss Family Robinson which in turn is a retelling of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe! So here I bring you Alice Lost in Space: Where all the creatures of Wonderland are actually aliens that Alice comes across in her space adventures. Instead of waking from her dream she simply returns to earth for the time being before a new adventure continues.

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So these are my book remixes, do you find any of them interesting or fun? Feel free to share your ideas in the comments!

Alice in Wonderland is one of my favourite stories, it’s one I grew up with, and your idea to combine it with Lost in Space is a great one! I feel like with all the interesting characters Alice meets in Wonderland setting the story in space just opens it up for more interesting characters to jump in.
God I wish I could actually read a story like that now!
Great picks for this weeks topic! 😀

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